From Cagewriter Dec 7:Phil “CM Punk” Brooks has signed a multi-fight deal with Ultimate Fighting Championship and will make his Octagon debut in 2015, the promotion announced Saturday night.Phil CM Punk Brooks will fight in the UFC in 2015. The UFC teased a big announcement following the first match of the UFC 181 pay-per-view portion and delivered. Joe Rogan interviewed Brooks cageside at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Brooks, 36, wasn’t sure of a weight class yet, but said both middleweight and welterweight were options.https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/cm-punk-signs-multi-fight-deal-with-ufc-035256156.html

Heh a potential goldmine with WWE fans crossing over again ala Brock. The guy has a big mouth and has in the past been a badmouth beacon against MMA and MMA fighters. But HEY I gotta respect a guy who puts up, laces them up and steps into the ring.

UFC is in dire need of a positive draw hopefully the guy can last long enough to make some money for everybody.

Here's a somewhat odd talking point I thought of...What does the UFC do about CM Punks tattoos?Pepsi and maybe even Hasbro Via the Cobra Command logo are possibly problematic... especially with this new "No other logos in the cage" deal.

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"Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick. Everyone knows that a burrow owl lives in a hole in the ground. Why the hell do you think they call it a burrow owl, anyway?"

and other fighters aswell......im sure a brizillian has the bad boy club logo I just cant remember who...vitor maybe....or maybe it was wandi, in which case non issue....buy im sure there are others out there

The UFC has now officially become the 3 ring circus we were afraid it was going to be. maybe Fallon Fox will have a chance at the UFC. I cant even imagine the slap in the face this going to be to all other fighters out there who are actually fighting to try and earn a spot. You also know to he probably got a pretty solid deal to come over more than likely more lucrative than any of the other lower end fighters who work there asses off to get in the UFC. This is just ......I dont even know what to say but if i was a low end or mid level fighter i would be pissed.

This guy has been buddies with Dana for a while now.Make no mistake about it, that's why he got signed seemingly out of the blue. Well that, and the idea of WWE dollars rolling in, but I mean that this guy in particular has been cozying up to Dana for years now.

Well I'm not concerned so much that he's getting a free pass or whatever, like he's gonna be the face of the UFC and become a paper champ. That's not ever gonna happen. It's gonna be immediately apparent that he is being given cans (probably guys in their first respective UFC fights with little to no elite skills). And when he inevitably is forced to fight an actual UFC level fighter, he's gonna get smoked. IMO the former is just as embarrassing as the latter, just for the record.

My only beef with this is that he's taking spots on cards away from guys who have been training their whole lives to work their way up to the UFC. I get it, he'll sell fight cards. But that doesn't make it right.

Well I'm not concerned so much that he's getting a free pass or whatever, like he's gonna be the face of the UFC and become a paper champ. That's not ever gonna happen. It's gonna be immediately apparent that he is being given cans (probably guys in their first respective UFC fights with little to no elite skills). And when he inevitably is forced to fight an actual UFC level fighter, he's gonna get smoked. IMO the former is just as embarrassing as the latter, just for the record.

My only beef with this is that he's taking spots on cards away from guys who have been training their whole lives to work their way up to the UFC. I get it, he'll sell fight cards. But that doesn't make it right.

make him do what lesnar did and go off and fight a couple of fights in some lower org then bring them over. Even Lesnar i get why he came over. not only is he is huge and massive but he was a division 1 wrestler as well. CM punk has zero fights, has no competition back ground in any martial art. If they are wanting a WWE wrestler to bring over to the UFC then go get Bobby lashley. at least he has beaten some former UFC fighters before.

My only beef with this is that he's taking spots on cards away from guys who have been training their whole lives to work their way up to the UFC. I get it, he'll sell fight cards. But that doesn't make it right.

Absolutely true in the short term.However, if signing him brings in a material difference in revenue, this will also translate into the UFC having more money to spend on fighters or contracting more fighters.

I actually have no problem with the UFC bringing in a non-MMA popular name every once in a while.It's only a good thing for the validity of the sport when the casual fan sees a WWE or Pro Boxing guy get smoked in the cage. Let's just limit it to a few times a year and not go full 3-ring circus like a lot of Japanese promotions had a tendancy to do.

Well I'm not concerned so much that he's getting a free pass or whatever, like he's gonna be the face of the UFC and become a paper champ. That's not ever gonna happen. It's gonna be immediately apparent that he is being given cans (probably guys in their first respective UFC fights with little to no elite skills). And when he inevitably is forced to fight an actual UFC level fighter, he's gonna get smoked. IMO the former is just as embarrassing as the latter, just for the record.

My only beef with this is that he's taking spots on cards away from guys who have been training their whole lives to work their way up to the UFC. I get it, he'll sell fight cards. But that doesn't make it right.

Not trying to be a wiseass in the least, but just curious.

If you were the owner of the UFC what would you do?

I would do exactly what I described above; Give him very winnable fights for as long as I possibly can and make as much money as I possibly can off of him until the screams to put him against a legit UFC-level fighter become deafening. Then when he inevitably gets flattened, I would say something like "Well give the guy credit for manning up and stepping in the cage. It takes a lot of guts!" and then quietly usher him out of the UFC as quickly as possible.

I never said this is a bad business decision. Just that's it's kind of shitty an unfair to legit up-and-comers.

Well I'm not concerned so much that he's getting a free pass or whatever, like he's gonna be the face of the UFC and become a paper champ. That's not ever gonna happen. It's gonna be immediately apparent that he is being given cans (probably guys in their first respective UFC fights with little to no elite skills). And when he inevitably is forced to fight an actual UFC level fighter, he's gonna get smoked. IMO the former is just as embarrassing as the latter, just for the record.

My only beef with this is that he's taking spots on cards away from guys who have been training their whole lives to work their way up to the UFC. I get it, he'll sell fight cards. But that doesn't make it right.

Ah ok then I agree with you and would do the same. I got confused because you said "my only beef with this is..." which would imply you arent cool with it, but I get ya now.

Not trying to be a wiseass in the least, but just curious.

If you were the owner of the UFC what would you do?

I would do exactly what I described above; Give him very winnable fights for as long as I possibly can and make as much money as I possibly can off of him until the screams to put him against a legit UFC-level fighter become deafening. Then when he inevitably gets flattened, I would say something like "Well give the guy credit for manning up and stepping in the cage. It takes a lot of guts!" and then quietly usher him out of the UFC as quickly as possible.

I never said this is a bad business decision. Just that's it's kind of shitty an unfair to legit up-and-comers.

Have to disagree with you there buddy. I agree his body is most likely ravaged, especially since from what I know in wrestling he lays it all on the line.

But, he will DEFINITELY do something for ratings. I would be willing to bet (as sad as it is) that if they made him the main event of a ppv and he were fighting a relative no name the PPV would do huge numbers. Dont get me wrong the true mma fan would be really pissed and it would hurt the legitimacy of the sport so the UFC would never do it, but I think he would have that kind of draw/impact.

its hard to disagree with you i guess because of lesnars ratings. but i do not believe cm punk has the star power or freakability that lesnar carries. cm punk is more of a younger generation and appeals to kids mostly 14 and younger imo. i could be wrong and maybe its just the general feedback that i have received when discussing this with people. i know a lot of wrestling fans and the majority said we have no interest with cm punk fighting mma. i think that star hype was drained once brock lesnar signed to the ufc. maybe cm punk will boost ratings but will they be star numbers i highly doubt it.

Yeah, CM Punk is no Brock Lesnar, so I'm not buying into the media's brainchild that we're about to see Lesnar 2.0 with this guy.

Lesnar is a legit fighter. He's a humongous, beastly guy with bonafide top-flight NCAA wrestling credentials. CM Punk is a 6", 180lb guy who does BJJ and Kempo karate a little in his spare time.Not the same thing.

He may have some star power and will likely bring in a little of both WWE fans who want to see him fight for real and WWE-haters who want to see him get flattened, but I just don't see him lasting more than 2 or 3 fights.I give the guy respect for lacing up the gloves and getting in the cage to see what he's made of, but as a real MMA fan I just don't have much interest in him as an MMA fighter.

I think the real beauty of this signing is that it doesn't cost the UFC much for a potential gains of gazillions. If he can win a couple of fights GREAT, if he loses in predictable fashion, he fades off into history while some other shiny object distracts fans.

I'm not sure MMA fighters would do so well in crossing over to boxing.

I suppose they would do OK against mid- to low-level boxers, but the boxing skills of highly ranked boxers are just light years ahead of all but the absolute best pure strikers in MMA. You can see the difference right away when watching two MMA fighters exchange and two skilled boxers exchange. Even with pure kickboxers, like in K-1, the strikes are just visibly so much faster and more precise that they make MMA fighters look slow and predictable. The advantage would be so much more compounded in just pure boxing.

I'm a huge Anderson Silva fan, and I believe he's one of the best strikers, maybe ever, in MMA, but I think if he ever did get in a boxing ring with Roy Jones Jr. like he's been lobbying to do he would get absolutely embarrassed.

I never said CM Punk would be as big as Lesnar since Lesnar was the biggest draw in the history if the UFC. But i do firmly believe that if CM Punk headlined a PPV in his first fight it would do very good numbers.